Necromorphous Embalming & Restorative Arts Training

About Jason King and Necromorphous

Restorative Artist and Illustrator

My name is Jason and I am the tutor and designer of Necromorphous, which means 'death without structure, or to imitate death'. From an early age I have had a fascination with death. Witnessing my grandfather die suddenly, along with the usual deaths of childhood pets left me questioning mortality, and the strange psychological reactions of adults preceding a death; the most natural of life’s fates and the fact that no one would discuss the taboo subject.

I have always been artistic and got my first airbrush aged 14. After completing school I applied for a Graphic Design course at university but was not accepted. My next career was to work within the funeral industry.

To provide myself with an income I worked many different types of jobs within a five year period before finally, at 21 years old, I decided to train as an Embalmer at the Salisbury College of Funeral Sciences, Wiltshire, England.

All of the art work in this gallery was designed by me to teach my students. There are 86 illustrations so far and plenty more to do, as re-evaluation never stops! They are embalming specific as most anatomy books either show too much or too little detail; they are designed to label, colour in and revise from in preparation for examinations.

The Principle at the college (Miss Shelia Dicks, author of ‘Modern Embalming, Theory and Practice’ - the text book used currently by the BIE in their modular embalming course) realised that due to my dyslexia I was going to struggle with written English language as I could not use punctuation or construct consistent sentences. She agreed to accept me on the course on the condition that I get help with my written English. The firm also employed me via a government training scheme for one year, which gave me an entry way into my chosen career. By the time I finished my work experience with them, I was a qualified Embalmer and member of the British Institute of Embalmers.
Upon completion of my embalming course I took a job as a Funeral Assistant and Embalmer at a small firm called Churcher and Tribbeck. The proprietor was a forward thinking man and over a 10 year period I was able to develop my embalming skills, chemical knowledge and client care, arranging and conducting funerals. Unfortunately after several motorcycle accidents my injuries forced me to leave my job as it was impossible to continue doing what I seemed to be best at.

Although I could no longer work full-time as an Embalmer my passion for embalming remained, and when the Salisbury College offered me the chance to train as a BIE tutor working part-time I gladly accepted. I was the practical embalming tutor for 3 years, and then when I qualified as an accredited tutor of the BIE I began assisting in the theoretical tuition as well. I continued for a further 5 years as the embalming tutor at the college reporting back to the Principle.

I am now a self employed independent embalming tutor and restorative artist.